After a slightly less shambolic election campaign than 4 years ago, the most complicated election ever faced by the London electorate has resulted in Ken Livingstone being re-elected as Mayor of London

The large number (nearly half a million) of spoiled or invalid ballot papers is a scandal, which was predictable due to the appalling design of the ballot papers.

Who made the decision to print the barcode right at the top edge of the ballot paper, near to where it got torn off from the perforated stub ?

The ballot paper scanning machines would have worked just as well with the barcode in a sideways position on the margin or at the bottom of the ballot paper. This would have dramatically reduced the number of ballot papers which had to be examined by hand as a natural result of accidentally torn barcodes during the perforation process.

This was entirely predictable by any one of the hundreds of thousands of people in London who have been handling tear off paper stationary for years - it is not exactly rocket science.

Similarly why on earth were the first and second preference column boxes so close to each other ? Why were they both on the right hand side of the ballot paper, which obviously led to confusion ? It could have been so easy to have the 1st choice on the left, with the candidate name and logo and party details and then the 2nd choice on the right.

Why were there three ballot papers (Mayor, Assembly and European) but only two ballot boxes ? Would it really have been so expensive to have a separate ballot box for the Mayoral and the Assembly ballot papers ?

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